A Father's Worst Nightmare
by RicardianScholar Clark-Weasley
Summary: Tom and Sabine make the startling discovery of their daughter being a superhero. Everything would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that Tom's worst nightmare is being realised.


"Marinette has skipped school again."

It had been a lovely day, the sun was shining, business was doing great, and Tom had been in an incredibly good mood as he jauntily went upstairs for his lunch….and then Sabine suddenly turned round with a grim look on her face and delivered that particularly bad bit of news.

"Again?" he asked.

Sabine nodded. "It's the third time this month," she stated unnecessarily. "And God knows how many times it has been this year alone. Tom, I'm _scared_ for her. What if she has gotten into a bad crowd of people? What if she's out there right now, getting high, and drinking, and….and…?"

"No," Tom said gently as he pulled Sabine into a comforting embrace, "No, not _Marinette_ , she's probably skipping to do some design or sit in the park, like other children who hate school. Marinette would never do drugs. We raised her better than that."

"But we don't know that!" Sabine pulled away, her eyes were suspiciously watery. " _We don't know that_!" she repeated shrilly. "She's been so tired recently, and she doesn't tell us everything anymore, and there's been bruises."

"She's a _teenager_ ," Tom pointed out softly, "no teenager goes to bed on time or tell their parents everything and they're extremely accident prone. I'm sure it's just a little rebellious stage and not a fully-blown out rebellion."

"How can you be so sure?" Sabine asked fearfully. "For all you know she could be out on the streets right now do-"

 _THUMP!_

The sound echoed from upstairs and neither Tom nor Sabine needed the other to state that that was where Marinette's room was. With the briefest exchanged of wide-eyed glances they immediately set off into the hallway and towards the ladder that led up to their daughter's room.

Sabine reached the ladder first and clambered up it as quickly as she could. Tom hovered beneath her as she almost lost her footing three times in her worry. "Marinette?!" Sabine cried out hopefully. "Is that you? Why aren't you in – _oh my God_!"

Tom used his height to his advantage in not only keeping his wife from falling off the ladder but to peer over the hatch to see what shocked her…..

Though he'll be honest, he almost lost his footing as well as he took in the sight of Ladybug and Chat Noir snogging in his little girl's bedroom.

" _What the hell_?!" Tom yelped. "Don't you people have your _own_ bedrooms to do this in?!"

Ladybug pulled away quickly from her crime-fighting partner's lips that Tom could hear the squelching sound. She then jumped back, pushing Chat Noir away abruptly, as she whipped her head to face Tom and Sabine with a look of the utmost horror.

"Mum! Dad!" she blurted out shakily. "What are you doing here?"

Mum….:? Dad….?

Tom wasn't going to lie not only did his legs almost five out at this point out of sheer shock but so did his heart. " _Marinette?_!" he and Sabine cried out in unison.

There was a flash of red light and the guide of Ladybug vanished to reveal his little girl, his perfectly little pink princess, staggering before them. A green flash almost blinded Tom a Chat Noir disappeared into Adrien, the boy that Tom had previously thought as the perfect boyfriend for his little girl.

(The boy was so polite and nervous that Tom thought _Marinette_ was more of a threat to _the boy's_ virtue rather than the other way. Any boy like that is perfect in Tom's eyes.)

" _Adrien_?!"

And then everything became a blur. Tom couldn't remember for the life of him how exactly he ended up sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea and a feast of cakes before him as Marinette and Adrien and two mythical, adorable, creatures called Tiki and Plagg explained everything to them.

Tom was so numb that nothing about the magic, and how and why Marinette and Adrien was chosen, and all of the details of their adventures, sank in at all.

"Okay," Sabine breathed deeply, "I understand and, although I could live without you being in danger and preferably not skipping school, I am very proud of you."

"Oh Mum!"

His wife and daughter embraced warmly as his wife stroked their daughter's hair and sighed happily. "I love you very much," Sabine murmured.

"I love you too," Marinette mumbled back.

And then Sabine firmly pulled Marinette back and met her eye with a serious look. "There will be rules and boundaries about this," she said firmly, "I'd like you to skip school as little as possible for starters, but," she shot a mischievous look in Adrien's direction, "I am sure you would much rather _catch up on your homework_. So we'll talk about it later."

"Thanks Mum!" Marinette quickly hugged Sabine once more and then threw her arms round Tom. "Thanks Dad! You're the best! Come on Adrien." She then grabbed Adrien by the collar of his shirt and dragged him away before he could help himself to another cookie.

"I'll be checking on you!" Sabine called out.

" _Mum_!"

Sabine smiled, satisfied at the embarrassed shriek in Marinette's voice, and then set out to clear up the mess as she hummed happily.

And that was when Tom finally returned to reality. "How can you be _happy_ about this?!" he demanded to know.

"How can you _not_ be?" Sabine retorted. "our daughter is a good girl who happens to be a _superhero_ , and while I don't like the danger of it all, at least she's not doing drugs, or drinking, or skiving off school to commit crime, and to top it off" Sabine clutched her hands to her chest and almost squealed with excitement, "she is dating the nicest boy in town who understands her completely! What mother wouldn't be happy and proud of their child for that reason alone?"

"Don't you get it?" Tom despaired. "Our little girl is dating the one boy that can get through her _attic bedroom_ window without us knowing." He shuddered at the implications of his daughter being ravished. "She's dating a flexible, super-strong, good-looking guy that wears _tight leather_." Tom pulled at his hair and let out the slightest, strangled, scream. "This is a father's worst nightmare!"

"Oh," Sabine smiled teasingly, "but think of the beautiful green eyes our grandchildren will have."

Tom stood up at that. "That's it!" he yelled. "I'm sorting this out, right now!"

"Where are you going?" Sabine asked worriedly.

"To a DIY shop," Tom replied as he reached for his jacket, "I'm going to protect our daughter's virtue from that stray cat and I'll do whatever it takes."

It then takes all afternoon for Sabine to convince her husband that they do not need to booby trap their daughter's bedroom for stray cats…..

After all, knowing their daughter's luck, she'll be the one that gets caught in the electrified net and not Chat Noir.


End file.
